A textile is a material comprised of interlacing fibers, that can for instance be manufactured by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibers together. Many types of textiles are used in our every day life. When electronic components (i.e. devices that work by controlling the flow of electrons) are integrated into a textile new application fields emerge. When the textile is an integral part of the electrical circuit comprising the electronic components, an electronic textile is obtained.
An example of an electronic component is a LED package in the form of a surface mounted device (SMD-LED), which can be attached to a textile substrate by gluing, soldering, snap button connection or stitching. The resulting light-emitting textile that could open up a wide range of new interior and apparel applications, ranging from illumination to atmosphere creation to messaging.
An electronic textile is known from UK patent application GB2396252A. The known light-emitting textile comprises SMD-LED's that are fixed by an electrically conductive epoxy to a fabric member having electrically conductive textile tracks.
A drawback of the known electronic textile is a poor reliability of the electrically conductive contact between the SMD-LED's and the electrically conductive textile tracks comprised in the fabric member.